Enhancing the Photocatalytic Activity of Co-precipitation Synthesized Fe3O4/ZnO Nanocomposites for Rhodamine B Degradation

Severe global issues with a great deal of water scarcity and contamination by organic materials such as dyes dominate the challenges of the 21st century in environmental-related areas. Recently, there has been a plethora of opportunities for nanotechnology to produce multifunctional nanocomposites with high surface-to-volume ratios and distinctive surface functions to address these contaminants. This study report on the synthesis of Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite through co-precipitation method and investigate of degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) dye under visible irradiation. The prepared different ratios (1:1, 1:2 and 2:1) of Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposites were characterized using various microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The SEM images illustrated that the nanomaterials had an irregular flake-like shape and TEM images depicted well defined core-shell Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite structures. The FTIR and Raman spectroscopic results confirmed the functional groups and the different vibrational modes of the composite nanoparticles. The UV-Vis, PL spectra and Tauc plot revealed that the molar ratio had band gap energies below 3.0 eV. The 1:1 ratio was highly mesoporous (94.36 m2/g) with distinct vibrational mode features of core-shell structures and a band gap energy of 2.85 eV, making it a suitable photocatalyst. A comparison of the photo-degradation of the 1:1 Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite ratio using visible and solar irradiation light revealed that RhB exhibited a high degradation efficiency of 83.81% under visible light.